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Morning Stars
(Primarch Yucahu Sumakutaa) |identified_leader(s) = Sohrak Mashyan |allegiance = (Traitoris Perditas) |noteworthy_domains = Badab |colours = Orange, blue, white }}The Morning Stars are a traitorous faction, categorised as an Insurgos force, that were formerly a part of the Void Eagles Legion's 3rd Great Fleet, mainly composed of Terrans, who along with their admiral turned to the Stormborn's side during the Icarion Insurrection. History The Stars at Dawn The origins of the Morning Stars hearkens back to the Terran Wars of Unification. Initially, they were some of the earliest Terran intakes recruited into the IVth Legion. They were drawn from the Paladin Cults of North Ind. The people of this land lived short, deadly lives, knowing nothing other than war. From the time they were born, they were taught two overriding principles which guided them throughout their lives: honour and justice. These two things they valued more highly than life itself (in fact many noted that they had more respect for the dead than for a man without or honour, for a tyrant, or, worse, for one who was both). So it was that when the Emperor’s armies began their inexorable advance towards the kingdoms of North Ind, the Paladin Cults surrendered to him before a single shot was fired rather than tarnish their honour with an unjust war fought out of pride. It was this same sense of honour and justice which meant that, when the Emperor requested that his new allies in North Ind supply men for his armies, the warriors of the Paladin Cults took it upon themselves to supply these warriors, sending their own sons to war rather than demanding that their subjects send theirs. It was these men from whom the Emperor would hand-pick the earliest members of the IVth legion, their bodies free of the mutation that marred many of Terra's people and made strong by a lifetime training for war. During their first battle to conquer the Pan-Pacific empire, the IVth Legion played an instrumental role in the subjugation of the upstart nation, losing just two-hundred and seventy-eight of their number. hese losses would surely have been far greater had it not been for the speed and savagery of their assault which had thrown the Pan-Pacific Empire off balance and fatally hampered its ability to react with any kind of speed. This relatively bloodless victory drew much praise from all, with even Korvost Sahaal, Master of the vaunted Ist, stating that he doubted if even the First could have accomplished such a feat. As a final accolade, this first battle of the IVth Legion won them their name. In his official history of the Unification Wars, Caesarius of the House Kane stated, "They shot across the morning sky like shooting stars." This phrase was adopted and contracted by the Imperial Army units who served alongside the IVth Legion who began to refer to them by the more memorable title of the Morning Stars. The Weapon and Its Master Leaving the dissolved Coalition behind, Yucahu devoted himself to the Emperor's Great Crusade. As such, his first concern was the disposition of his new Legion. Although there had been an initial excitement at the prospect of being reunited with their Primarch, the Morning Stars quickly became divisive as they came to understand the true nature of their gene-sire. A number of the legionnaires declared that honour dictated their submission to their new liege lord and adopted Yucahu's brass and the moniker 'Void Eagles'. However, a significant remnant rejected both, claiming that they could not in good conscience betray the traditions that had sustained them for decades of the Great Crusade. Many Imperial observers watched the growing conflict with great curiosity. After all, it was only a mere six years earlier where the Shepherds of Eden broke ranks from the Berserkers of Uran, supported by powerful patrons. Many quietly wondered if a similar situation, the creation of a new Legion 'Auxilia', would come to pass. This hypothetical situation never came to pass. Unlike the more brutal Raktra Akarro, Yucahu, while refusing to change his ways to mollify his irate sons, was content to allow them to fight as they wished so long as they continued completing compliance operations in the Emperor's service. This stubborn remnant was given their own fleet and kept their old title before continuing on with the Great Crusade. Many Imperial observers watched the growing conflict with great curiosity. After all, it was only a mere six years earlier where the Shepherds of Eden broke ranks from the Berserkers of Uran, supported by powerful patrons. Many quietly wondered if a similar situation, the creation of a new Legion 'Auxilia', would come to pass. This hypothetical situation never came to pass. Unlike the more brutal Akarro, Yucahu, while refusing to change his ways to mollify his irate sons, was content to allow them to fight as they wished so long as they continued completing compliance operations in the Emperor's service. This stubborn remnant was given their own fleet and kept their old title before continuing on with the Great Crusade. The remaining Sons of Yucahu would make the transition to Void Eagles, steadily leaving their traditions and past identity behind as attrition did the rest. The history of every Legion contains a turning point, where the dominant Terran culture was confronted with - and typically supplanted by - another. This is true of the IVth, more so than many of their cousins, as history sadly attests. The nature of the culture that eventually came to dominate was unusual, however, because it was not tied to a particular stellar polity. The Rangdan Xenocides The campaign that would cement the Morning Stars' separation from the wider IVth Legion would be the ill-fated Rangdan Xenocides. Many space marines, in stark contrast to their near-perfect recall of events following their metamorphosis, have attested to faint, incomplete memories of Ascension and life before it. Whisked away shortly after most of the implants had taken, these young warriors would have had little recollection of the worlds that had raised them. Their experience was then of fleeting planetfall, interspersed with a far greater amount of time in the void or the Warp. During the Rangdan Xenocides, many inductees were abruptly taken from their homes and accelerated growth and implantation methods used to make them into Astartes. Such practices can only have exacerbated the above phenomena. As a consequence of all this, few affectations from parent cultures survived among the Void Eagles, and while the fleets differentiated themselves aesthetically, those differences could not easily be traced back to any one system. While they were not deployed during the first three xenocidal campaigns, the reunion with their bellicose gene-sire saw them put in action along with the rest of the Void Eagles. The resulting scorched-earth purgation, and fighting alongside the dreaded Berserkers of Uran and Drowned Men certainly put a heavy strain on the Terran warriors' honour, and several documents suggest that the REDACTED their very minds. It would be after the Xenocides that the Morning Stars would entirely cast off the brazen heraldry of their lord, returning to the ochre panoply of old. From that point onward, 3rd Fleet would only be an organisational term. Unable to convert Yucahu to his cause, Icarion Anasem would then turn his attention to the Void Eagles themselves. To the everlasting shame of Yucahu, the Lord of the IVth had not been able to cultivate the same degree of loyalty within his own Legion as he himself evinced. For his failure, the Void Eagles would suffer mightily on the Day of Revelation as those ostensibly within the Legion would turn their own ships against the Star-Born. Category:Insurgos